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NASA plans first interplanetary CubeSat mission for Mars lander

CUBESATS are headed between worlds. A pair of briefcase-sized satellites known as Mars Cube One will hitch a ride on NASA’s next Mars mission, where they will try to relay data back to Earth.

Built on the cheap with off-the-shelf parts, CubeSats offer easy access to low-Earth orbit – but none has ever gone further. Now engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, are sending them into deep space for the first time.

In March 2016, Mars Cube One will tag along on the same rocket as NASA’s InSight Mars lander. After launch, the CubeSats will deploy solar panels and radio antennae and strike out for Mars under their own power. They will fly by the Red Planet in September 2016, just as the lander arrives.

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Because Mars Cube One can receive data over one channel and transmit on another at the same time, it will help engineers track crucial moments during this and future Mars landings.

And if the modular, flexible CubeSats work as advertised, they may open even more avenues to explore the solar system.

If the CubeSats work as advertised, they may open even more avenues to explore the solar system

This article appeared in print under the headline “Hitch-hikers to Mars”